THE BANQUET Overseas Trailer (TheBanquetTheMovie.com)

A Better Copy of the DRAGON TIGER GATE Full Trailer (Sina.com)

Opening This Week: June 24 - 30 (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

June 30, 2006

Dreams May Come, a low budget drama by Xu Jinglei, Crazy Stone, a comedy produced by Andy Lau, 10 movies shot for celebrating the 85th year of Chinese Communist Party has entered Chinese theaters this week; and in Hong Kong the third installment of Love Undercover has opened for business.

Click here for detail

Jay Chou to Do a SLAM DUNK with Yao Ming (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

(Sony Pictures Classics)

According to multiple sources, Taiwan-born pop singer Jay Chou has principally agreed to  take the lead in Guan Lan (Slam Dunk) with Yao Ming making a cameo appearance. Produced by Taiwan's Chang-Hong Channel Film & Video Co. Ltd. and directed by Chu Yin-Ping, Slam Dunk is about an orphan, who grew up at Kung-Fu University (no kidding!), becomes a talented basketball player. Idea for this movie is actually inspired by the same-name Japanese manga series. Wu Dun, president of Chang-Hong, intents to make Slam Dunk a pure Taiwanese-made, has turned down a financial offer from a Hong Kong company and has asked the Taiwanese government to share the cost, which has soared to about US$10 million. (Good luck!) Wu said he would ask Korean singer BoA to play Jay Chou's girlfriend and the mainland Chinese partner just booked Yao Ming for one-day cameo shoot. As for the choreography, Wu has been in contact with Ching Siu-Tung (The Curse of Golden Flower, House of Flying Daggers, Hero).  According to a press article released last November, the cast may also include Eric Tsang, Antony Wong, Ng Man-Tat, Wang Gang and Zhang Guoli. Hong Kong's Centro Digital (The Promise, Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer) is commissioned to do the CG effects. Shooting will begin sometime next year. Though tries to make it completely in Taiwan, Wu has said he may shoot some scenes in the mainland China because the leasing Taipei Arena would be too costly.

RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES North American Trailer (Apple.com)

(Sony Pictures Classics)

Sony Pictures Classics just put a QuickTime trailer of Zhang Yimou's Riding alone for Thousands of Miles on Apple.com. The date for a theatrical release is aimed at September 1, 2006. Released last December in China, this film's box-office revenue is the highest among all domestic made "artistic films." It tells a Japanese fisherman, who travels thousands of mile to the Chinese countryside to documenting a rare form of local opera for his ailing son, hoping to win back his son's heart. Sony Pictures Classics has just acquired the North and South American rights to Zhang Yimou's third period epic The Curse of Golden Flower, now in production in China.

THE WOUNDED CITY in Production (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Hong Kong's Oriental Daily and The Sun posted several pictures taken outside a local Buddhist temple, where Shang Cheng (literal: The Wounded City)'s the first day of production took place. Leung Chou-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Chapman To showed up for the shoot but the female lead Shu Qi did not. Directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, who helmed the Infernal Affairs trilogy together, Shang Cheng tells that a high-ranking Hong Kong police officer (Leung Chiu-Wai) collaborates with a drug lord and another cop, or an ex-cop (Takeshi Kaneshiro), accidentally finds out his secret and decides to follow his every move, hoping to bust him somehow. Rumor says the role of the good cop was originally offered to Leung but he got obsessed with the role of the bad cop, which belonged to Kaneshiro. Leung asked for a role swap and then found out  in the final draft of the script the good cop actually got more screen time, which makes Leung very upset.

More pictures: A B C

Simon Yam Turns down BOARDING GATE for To / Tsui / Lam Jigsaw Project (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Johnnie To (L) with Simon Yam (R). (Sina.com)

Hong Kong's Oriental Daily reports that Simon Yam has just turned down French director Olivier Assayas' offer of starring in his Boarding Gate and has joined the untilled upcoming Johnnie To / Tsui Hark / Ringo Lam thriller. Both movies will go into production next month and as Johnnie To's favorite leading man, Simon Yam cannot say no to the To / Tsui / Lam project. Olivier Assayas once thought he could shoot Boarding Gate partly in Hong Kong to enable Yam doing two projects simultaneously, but later he scraped the plan after falling to find a river in Hong Kong, suitable for the story. For the To / Tsui / Lam project, each director is solely responsible for about 30 minutes of the movie without telling anything to others and three 30 minute footages are pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. Johnnie To told AFP, "Tsui Hark will first start shooting the film, then Ringo will look at the development of it before shooting the second part, and then I'll complete it with the third part."  We do not know who else have joined the cast and we may not know what the thriller is talking about until it is released.

Johnnie To, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam to Make a Three-Piece Jigsaw Thriller (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) March 24, 2006

Aidan Quinn Takes Val Kilmer's Role in DARK MATTER (Fat Dot)

Liu Ye (right) and Meryl Streep (2nd from left).

(China News Agency)

According to a press release article sent to me, Aidan Quinn will play Prof. Jacob Reiser, the role believed once belongs to Val Kilmer. Inspired by a true story, Dark Matter depicts the humor, frustration and heartbreak that results when different cultures collide and communication falters. The indie film follows the story of Liu Xing (Liu Ye), a brilliant Chinese science student, who strives to impress his mentor Jacob Reiser (Aidan Quinn) with his theories on the origins of the universe. Helping Liu Xing adapt but unable to protect him from academic politics are Joanna (Meryl Streep), a patron of the university with a passion for all things Chinese, and Hildy (Blair Brown), Reiser’s secretary.

SUMMER PALACE Goes to Toronto Fest without a Birth Certificate (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

June 29, 2006

THRU THE MOEBIUS STRIP: From Paper to Film (Sina.com)

June 28, 2006

Another DRAGON TIGER GATE Trailer (kingtonj)

June 27, 2006

Stephen Chow to Start Making THE ALIENS Next Month?(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Chinese newspaper Hangzhou Daily reports Stephen Chow will start directing and staring in his new film, working-titled Wai Xing Ren (The Aliens) next month in Ningbo city. In the sci-fi flick, Chow will play a Chinese astronaut who accidentally lands on an alien planet. He then becomes some sort of father figure of an alien boy with help from a female android, who is capable of communicating with the aliens.

Stephen Chow Postpones KUNG FU HUSTLE 2 for a Space Adventure (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) April 16, 2006

Another LUST, CAUTION Casting Rumor (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

(AFP)

Shanghai newspaper News Times says Taiwanese pop singer Wang Lee-Hom has been cast as male lead No. 2, the boyfriend of the young agent. Ang Lee has left Shanghai without confirming any casting rumor. He will return to Shanghai to continue his work on the preproduction. Ang Lee has decided to shoot a majority of the film at Shanghai Film Studios' production facility at Chedun. New sets will be built in addition to the existing sets to recreate the old Shanghai. Set in the post-1941 Shanghai which was under the Japanese occupation, the story is about a young secret agent, Wang Jiazhi, affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist government, who seduced a high-ranking official, Mr. Yi, working for the puppet government and tricked him to an assassination trap. Then she realized her relationship with Mr. Yi had started growing out of control.

Sony Pictures Classics Acquired Zhang Yimou's CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (Movie City News)

(Beijing New Picture Film Co.)

Sony Picture Classics just announced, through a press release, that it had acquired the North American and Latin American rights to Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower, previously known as The City of Golden Armor. This should not be a surprise, since Sony has been the distributor for almost all films by Zhang Yimou. Included in the press release article, there is an oversimplified description of the plot -  "the volatile balance of power between the King (Chow Yun Fat) and the Queen (Gong Li) and his three sons, which entails betrayal, deceit and passion, pitting King against Queen and father against sons." Currently still being shot in China, the release date for Asia and the continent of America are undetermined.

Click here for the press release article (Thanks to "Marla" of AdmiringGongLi.com)

The 9th Shanghai International Film Festival Ends(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Best music - Karl Jenkins (River Queen / New Zealand)

The Asian New Talent:

Best film - Living in Fear (Vietnam)

Best director - Wanma-Cidan (The Silent Holy Stones / China)

Grand jury prize - Trouble Makers (China)

Favorite film of college students - Trouble Makers (China)

Click here for detail.

Shots from MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS' NYC Location (Sina.com)

(China Foto Press)

Sina.com just posted two snapshots (courtesy of ChinaFotoPress.com), showing Norah Jones and Jude Law doing a night scene in New York City.

 

According to this note, shooting of My Blueberry Nights is expected to restart in Memphis the week of July 16 and there is a casting call for extras to hang around at two restaurants.  Shooting of this Wong Kar-Wai's first English language film will also take place in several other cities throughout America.

Wong Kar-Wai Will Do Hurricane Katrina Inspired Movie (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) February 5, 2006

MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS Filming Update (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

(Sina.com)

SilverHawk just sent me an update on the status of Wong Kar-Wai's My Blueberry Nights. That smoking scene was actually shot in New York City.

Here is what "SilverHawk" said:

Wong Kar-Wai Will Do Hurricane Katrina Inspired Movie (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) February 5, 2006

New Rumor: Simon Yam and Kelly Lin Approaching Olivier Assayas BOARDING GATE (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Simon Yam and Kelly Lin during the shooting of Cultured Bird. (TungSar)

The casting of French director Olivier Assayas' Boarding Gate just had some new development. Sina.com reports that, according to an unidentified source, Simon Yam and Kelly Lin are now joining the cast. Yam is expected to play a contract killer, who must kill a former financial big gun (Michael Madsen). Both the killer and the target are sharing the same lover, an Italian woman lives in London (Asia Argento), and the killer's wife, would be played by Lin, is pulling the strings in behind. Both Lam and Lin are regulars of Johnnie To's movies. Together, they starred in To's Fulltime Killer, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts and, most recently, Cultured Bird. Leung Chiu-Wai, Leung Ka-Fai and Andy Lau have all been rumored for playing the contract killer and earlier this week Maggie Q is mentioned in connection with the role of the contract killer's wife.

Clip: Wong Kar-Wai's MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS in Production (Sina.com)

(Sina.com)

I do not know where did Sina get this clip, but the website is claiming the copyrights. It  shows Jude Law and Norah Jones doing a smoking scene (unfortunately) in an unidentified street of an unidentified America city. Can anybody tell more about the clip and the film's current status?

 

Click here for the clip.

 

 

 

 

Related stories:

Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey May Join Wong Kar-Wai's MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

June 5, 2006

Billboard of Wong Kar-Wai's MY BLUEBERRY Nights on Display In Cannes (Hollywood Elsewhere) May 22, 2006

Wong Kar-Wai Gives Update on MY BLUEBERRY NIGHT (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) March 22, 2006

Update on Wong Kar-Wai's THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI AND the Katrina Project (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) February 14, 2006

Wong Kar-Wai Will Do Hurricane Katrina Inspired Movie (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) February 5, 2006

A Closer Look at the Assassins in Zhang Yimou's THE CURSE OF GOLDEN FLOWER (...)

DOG BITE DOG Trailer (Kaiju Shakedown)

Edison Chen and Pei Weiying.

(Ar Port, Inc.)

Kaiju Shakedown is hosting the first trailer of Dog Bite Dog from Hong Kong (click here). In the dark and bone-crashing thriller, directed by Soi Cheang (Lover Battlefield, Horror Hotline: Big Head Monster), Edison Chen plays a young Cambodian hitman being hunted by a sadistic Hong Kong cop, played by Sam Lee, who is determined to revenge his fallen colleagues killed by the hitman. 17 year old Mainland Chinese actress Pei Weiying plays a teenage girl who rescued the badly wounded hitman. The cast also includes Suet Lam, Lai Yiu-Cheung and Cheung Siu-Fai.

From the opening ceremony: Edison Chen   Sam Lee   Cheung Siu-Fai   The cast and crew   Video clip

Edison Chen on a Thailand location.

Opening This Week: June 17 - 23 (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

The Forest Ranger

(Shanghai Film Studios.)

A police officer arrives at a village to investigate the death of three tree poachers, the ruthless Kong brothers, and discovers they were shot to death by a fatally wounded lone forest ranger, named Heavenly Dog, with an outdated rifle...

Click here for detail

Jonnie To' s BUTTERFLY FLIES (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

(?)

Several Chinese newspapers report that Hong Kong master director Johnnie To's next project is working-titled Hu Die Fei (The Butterfly Flies), a romance story with some supernatural element. Penned by famed screenwriter Ivy Ho (July Rhapsody, Comrades: Almost a Love Story), it is about a young women reuniting with the spirit of her boyfriend died in an accident. Mainland Chinese actress Li Bingbing (A World without Thieves, Purple Butterfly, Seventeen Years) is cast to play the young woman and Taiwanese singer and TV soap star Vic Chou is set to make his film debut as the dead boyfriend. Shooting will begin in August. To's most recent released film is Election 2. He has two projects currently in post-production - Cultured Bird, story about a pickpocket, and Exiled, a follow-up to The Mission. He is also preparing to make a three-piece jigsaw thriller with fellow directors Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam.

Related story:

Johnnie To, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam to Make a Three-Piece Jigsaw Thriller (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) March 24, 2006

From the Shanghai Film Fest (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Ang Lee

A rumor says, in a production application submitted to the Chinese film censorship authority, Leun Chiu-Wai (Tony)'s name is list as the male lead of Ang Lee's upcoming Lust, Caution. However, neither Lee nor Leung has confirmed it. The character Leung is associated to is a high ranking official working for the Japanese-controlled puppet government during the WWII (similar to the Nazi-controlled French Vichy Government). As for the choice female lead, Ang Lee is also saying nothing despite there have been many rumored candidates mentioned in the press.

During a meeting attended dozens Chinese and European filmmakers, Shanghai local newspaper Jiefang Daily acquired a list of about 20 proposed Chinese film project currently seeking funding from Europe. Among them, Ang Lee's name is attached to Ni De Ying Zi Wu Chu Bu Zi (literal: Your Shadow Is Everywhere) as the "executive director (?)" and Hei An Zhong De Huo Che (literal: The Train in the Dark) and Qing Hai Hu De Xia Tian (literal: The Summer of Qinghai Lake).

Tian Zhuangzhuang

Director Tian Zhuangzhuang said more funding had helped him completed his Wu Qingyuan, a biopic of Wu Qingyuan, a master player of Wei Qi, a traditional Chinese board game. Over-spending, especially during the filming in Japan drained out the original fund and left nothing for the postproduction. Tian would make it available at the coming Venice International Film Festival this fall.

Tsui Hark

Hong Kong director Tsui Hark said he would adapted classic novel Journey to the West to an animation someday before his death, but he also admitted that he did not have right idea and the right technology to fulfill his dream. For many years, Tsui has been thinking about making a feature film version of the novel, either by live-action or by animation.

Video: Liu Ye Shows His Life on DARK MATTER Set (Sina.com)

Liu Ye (L) and Meryl Streep (M). (HAIRUNQIANYI)

A video showing Chinese actor Liu Ye working on the set of Dark Matter, currently being shot in Salk Lake City, was distributed to Sina.com by Liu's agent HAIRUNQIANYI Inc.

Yuen Wo-Ping Wants Jet Li to Help Him Building THE GREAT WALL (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Master Yuen Wo-Ping made the decision of returning to the director's chair for  Chang Cheng (The Great Wall) two days ago even though the script would not be available for another three months, according to Beijing-based Star Daily. He has arrived in Beijing yesterday to discuss his idea of the project with PKU Starlight Group, the potential backer. While interviewed by the newspaper, he mentioned he was ask Jet Li to be his leading man. Yuen said the story was "approximately set in the Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 B.C.) and / or Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.)", and it was probably about fighting the nomadic invaders from the north, the Xiongnu, known as the Hun in the west. Yuen will also choreograph the fights scenes, which would occupy about two third of the movie. Jet Li has announced he would not do any more wushu movie but Yuen said it did not matter because The Great Wall would be an action movie. Being a long-time friend and working partner of Jet Li, Yuen is pretty confident that Li would say yes. It would be wonderful to see Yuen Wo-Ping and Jet Li working together again and fighting the Hun seems to be a lovely idea, as long as the project is attached with a good script.

Notes: The history of the Great Wall of China began in the 7th Century B.C. during the Warring States Period. At that time, China was divided into many independent states and some of the strongest states built defensive walls along the boarders. After China was unified under Qin, a thousands mile long wall was constructed in the north, for keeping the Hun and other nomadic tribes out. In the early years of Han Dynasty,  anther wall, over 10000 kilometer long, was built partly based on the old wall from the previous Qin Dynasty, to stop the Hun invasion. The Great Wall we commonly see today was actually constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644).

ROB-B-HOOD Theme Song Music Video Featuring Jackie Chan (Sina.com)

Sina.com got a music video for the theme song of Rob-B-Hood, performed by Jackie Chan in Mandarin Chinese.

Click here

Jackie Chan Engages in Baby-Kidnapping PROJECT BB (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) January 2, 2006

Andy Lau Gets PROTÉGÉ, Heads to BOARDING GATE (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Looks like Yee Tung-Shing directed and Peter Chan produced Protégé will come sooner than expected. According to an article by Shanghai newspaper News Times, an unidentified source suggests the shooting is expected to begin next month and the cast includes Andy Lau, Daniel Wu and Luis Koo. According to a previous report, the story of Protégé will follow the entire life-cycle of drug, how it is made from opium flowers, how it is trafficked, how it is consumed and how it takes lives. Peter Chan said the protégé was the favorite and most protected person of the drug lord. He said he might ask five or six stars to take equal shares in the movie and the film would look somewhat similar to Traffic.

The same News Times article also reveals that French director Olivier Assayas just traveled to Hong Kong to asked Andy Lau and Maggie Q, who just showed up in M:I3, to play a married couple in his Boarding Gate, which could be Andy Lau's English language film début. According to EuropeanFilms.net, the film focuses on an Italian woman lives in London (Asia Argento), who has a passionate affair with a former financial big gun (Michael Madsen). She also had a second lover, a contract killer who has to kill the big gun and the contract killer’s wife is behind the scenes, pulling the strings. In February this year, Leung Ka-Fai (Tony) and Michelle Yeoh's names were attached to play the contract killer and his wife. It is possible that both Leung and Yeoh have departed the project and Assayas now wants Lau and Q to fill in. The shooting is also expected to begin next month in Hong Kong and then move to France in August. How to balance between these two projects would be a puzzle needed to be solved but reportedly, Assayas is willing to readjust his shooting schedule if necessary.

Liu Chia-Liang, Liu Chia-Hui Set to Be HEROES OF SHAOLIN (eMediaWire)

70 year old Liu Chia-Liang (Lau Kar-Leung) and 51 year old Liu Chia-Hui (Gordon Liu) have begun preparing for their next martial-art project, Heroes of Shaolin, according to a press article released in New York (click here). Liu Chia-Liang and Liu Chia-Hui, brothers bounded not by blood but by decades long friendship, were two of the most shining stars in movies by Shaw Bros.' back in the 1970s and 1980s. Liu Chia-Hui has starred in at least 20 martial-art films directed by Liu Chia-Liang. In  Heroes of Shaolin, currently being pushed by New York-based Burning Shaolin Productions, monk Luk Ah-Choi escapes from the destruction of his home, the Shaolin Temple, and takes refuge in a local village where he falls in love with the beautiful, jaded and lethal Yim Wing Chun. Together they struggle to organize a rebellion against the oppressing Qing Dynasty. Distracted from his true mission by his vendetta against the murderous traitor Bok Mei (the character with white hair and white eyebrow Liu Chia-Hui set to reprise), Luk Ah-Choi jeopardizes all in this 19th Century epic of love, life and vengeance. Apparently other cast choices have yet to be finalized but according to the press release, the production company would talk to Zhang Ziyi, Chow Yun-Fat, Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa. Shooting is scheduled to begin in the mainland China by mid 2007.

The 9th Shanghai International Film Festival Opens for Business (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

(Sina.com)

With a grand opening ceremony held tonight in China largest city, the 9th edition of Shanghai International Film Festival has officially begun. Quite a lot of celebrities show up for the party, including, from the Chinese front, Zhou Xun, Huang Xiaoming, TIm Yip, Joey Yung, John Lone, Jone Chen, Jackie Chan, Zhao Wenzhuo, Ning Jing, Ying Da, Tan Dun, Vivian Wu, Zhang Guoli, Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue; and from the international front, Natasha Richardson, Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver, Andie MacDowell, Hugh Jackman and Kurihara Komaki. During the ceremony, director Ang Lee received a special honor for his contribution of promoting Chinese language films to the rest of the world.

17 films are selected to compete form the grand prize, Jin Jue, or the Golden Goblet; 10 films have are up to Asian New Talent Prize competition; and the other 155 films are scheduled for been screened out-of-competition. Over 20 Chinese titles will be shown during the festival, and some of them have already been released in the country.  The opening film is James Ivory's The White Countess, which was almost entirely shot in Shanghai; and the closing film is Pedro Almodóvar's Volver, a recent Cannes winner. Neither films is competing for any award. Four titles have chosen Shanghai to make their world première - Four Minutes from Germany, Without Her from Canada, Cities and Love from Argentina and The Land from Italy.

Showing at the festival offers little help for a foreign title hoping to be picked up by a local distributor. Each year, the Chinese government only allow a limited number of foreign titles to be shown at Chinese theaters. Up to 20 of them, mostly from the Hollywood, are imported under the format of "profit-sharing" (i.e., the title owner only receiving a percentage of the box-office revenue) and the rest of the quota is assigned to titles with purchased distribution rights, mostly just Hollywood-made straight-to-videos. In fact, the current movie market of China is very small (under US$250 million last year), judging from its size of population. Each year, much of the theatrical revenue goes to over a dozen Hollywood movies and a handful of domestic productions from directors such as Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaogang. The government's restriction on what and how movies can show discourages Chinese filmmakers to try anything new and challenging. Overly high tickets prices, a very small number of screens and limitation on the variety and quantity of movies have forced the Chinese to seek entertainment largely from pirated DVDs and domestic-made soap series on TV. The official statistics show that a record-breaking 206 domestic movies, including dozens of TV movies shot with video camera, and 35 co-produced movies (mostly made with Hong Kong studios) were made last year in the mainland China. In fact, last year there were only about 25 domestic titles received the status of  nationwide full release.

Title image (left) - The jury: (L to R) Italian director Gabriele Salvatores, South Korean director Kwak Kyung-taek, Mexican actress Diana Bracho, mainland Chinese director Feng Xiaogang, Jury president French director Luc Besson, Spanish director Manuel Gutiérrez Aragon, British producer Duncan Kenworthy, Hong Kong director Stanley KWAN and mainland Chinese director and actress Xu Jinglei.

Title image (right) - Ang Lee received his award from veteran director Xie Jin.
 

Stars and communism meet at Shanghai Film Festival, Reuters

THE CURSE OF GOLDEN FLOWER Production Update (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

A platform atop of a pole for a group wire scene.	Several stuntmen trying out the wires.	Crewmembers assembling an imperial cart.	An imperial cart escorted by soldiers.
(Chongqing Economic Daily)

Shooting of Zhang Yimou's The Curse of Golden Flower, previously known as The City of Golden Armor, has restarted at Wulong County's "Heavenly Pit" for four days. A post is built at the bottom of a naturally formed funnel. According to local newspaper Chongqing Economic Daily, the plot is that the emperor (Chow Yun-Fat) sends dozens of assassins to kill his second oldest son (Jay Chou), who has risen against his father. At the center of the courtyard, there is a platform built atop of a steel pole and dozens wire connect the pole with nearby cliffs. In the first shot, about two dozen assassins slid down to the center of the post while fighting with someone, assumedly a stunt double for Jay Chou. Painting in blue, the platform and the pole will be digitally removed during the post-production. In the second shot, six assassins stood on the side of a cliff, getting ready for their attack. In another scene, the empress (Gong Li) arrives at the post along with her maid (Li Man) and a minister (Ni Dahong).

More pictures: A B C D E F

Teaser Posters: DRAGON TIGER GATE / JADE WARRIOR (G-Film.com / Blind Spot Pictures)

(Mandarin Films, Blind Spot Pictures)

Poster 1: an international teaser poster for Dragon Tiger Gate. It features the three lead three: (left to right) Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue.

Poster 2: a teaser poster for Jade Warrior / Jadesoturi, the first Finish film featuring Chinese martial-art. It shows a simplified Chinese Character of "Zhan" (with the edge being cut off), which means "fighting" or "war". Face of  Pin Yu, played by Zhang Jingchu, and a sword held by, presumably, Kai / Sintai, played by Tommi Erone.

Poster 3: another teaser poster of Jade Warrior, showing the Pin Yu holding a fan, her weapon of choice.

(Thanks to Twitch Film for the posters of Jade Warrior.)

Leung Chiu-Wai to Reunite with INFERNAL AFFAIRS Directors in THE WOUNDED CITY (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Several mainland Chinese newspapers report that Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is about to star in Shang Cheng (literal meaning: The Wounded City) by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, directors of the Infernal Affairs trilogy. Leung will play a high-ranking Hong Kong police officer, who is collaborating with a drug lord and Takeshi Kaneshiro will play another cop, who accidentally finds out his secret and decides to follow his every move, hoping to bust him somehow. It was Leung Chiu-Wai who came out the idea for his role. Maybe he has been getting tired of playing Mr. good cop. Sammi Cheng is rumored to play the leading role, which we known nothing about. Shooting will being next month and release in Hong Kong and the mainland China will probably comes by the either the Christmas this year or the Chinese New Year next year.

Opening This Week: June 10 - 16 (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Dating a Vampire	Feel It, Say It
(Century Creator, ?)

Two young students move into an empty apartment building and meet a corpse bride and two couples encounters obstacles for true romance...

Click here for detail

Jackie Chan's ROB-B-HOOD (aka. PROJECT BB) Preview (China News Agency)

(JCE Movies Ltd.)

A big load of materials of Jackie Chan's latest comedy Rob-B-Hood (known as Project BB in Chinese) has been uploaded to the official website and a a special section of JackieChanKids.com. Surf around and you will find a trailer, production stills, posters and more. A crime lord (Chen Baoguo) believes the newly born grandson of a local tycoon is his own grandson and offers a juicy award to a stealing team of three (Jackie Chan, Luis Koo and Michael Hui) to deliver the baby for him. The kidnapping operation is easy but taking care of their little hostage is not.  Yuen Biao, who was originally attached to play one of the three thieves, played a chief detective in the movie.

(Thanks to "Drunken Master".)

Photos Taken on the Set of DARK MATTER (China News Agency)

Liu Ye (front)	Liu Ye (right) and Meryl Streep (2nd from left).
(China News Agency)

Shooting of Dark Matter is currently underway in Salt Lake City. In the indie drama, based on a true story, Chinese actor Liu Ye plays a young astrophysicist student, whose discovery of the dark matter could ultimately earn him a Nobel Prize. He is not a man with strong interpersonal skill and is not a favorite of the his professor, played by Val Kilmer, who tries to stop him from publishing his discovery and to delay his graduation. The student responses violently to the school politics, which leads to a tragic end. Meryl Streep plays the student's next-door neighbor, who has established some unusual friendship with him. Liu Ye told Shanghai Morning Post that the original American producer was upset that Val Kilmer's character was a villain and delayed the production for over a year and half. The filming finally began after a Canadian studio picked it up.

More photos: A  B

What Would Not Be Shown When M:I3 Is Released in China? (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

(Paramount)

Yesterday Paramount Pictures released an optimistic announcement claiming that Mission: Impossible 3 will be release in the mainland China on July 18, after making edits to it "in order to meet China's censor standards" (Click here). According to several Shanghai newspapers, the opening scene showing Hoffman beating Cruise will be deleted, because it is "too bloody". As for the part shot in China, the car chase scene and shots with hanging laundry will be shortened (in fact, the laundry and bamboo poles used for drying laundry are movie props); the shot with several senior citizens playing Mahjong will possibly be shortened; and a few lines will be altered. However, the censoring decision is highly unpopular in the country. Chinese who have seen the movie, either at overseas theaters legally or through DVD and Internet download illegally, almost unanimously agreed that censoring the movie is not necessary. According to an on-going poll cast by Sina.com, one of the top Internet portals in China, over 60% of online voters have chosen "Does the authority overrate a little bit?" and over 20% of them have chosen "Can't watch the original cut, very disappointed." The Chinese authority routinely censor movie scenes with violence, sex, nudity or whatever paints China in a negative way. But the standard is very ambiguous and arbitrary. As the result, filmmakers often have to guess whether their movie could pass the censorship or not.

THRU THE MOEBIUS STRIP Pix (Sina.com)

(GDC Entertainment Limited)

Stills: A B C D E F G H I J K

Designs: A B C D E

Original illustrations: A B C D

THE PAINTED VEIL Posters (Sina.com)

(Warner China Films HG)

Sina.com, which identifies itself as the only website representing The Painted Veil (only within the mainland China, of cause), just posted two teaser posters of the film. Set in the early 1920s, The Painted Veil tells a woman (Naomi Watts), who is dissatisfied with her marriage, accompanies her husband (Edward Norton) to the countryside of China as a journey of enlightenment and self-discovery. Produced by Warner China Film HG Corp. and US-based Yari Film Group with US$20 million in budget, it is based on the same name book by W. Somerset Maugham, which has already been made to a Hollywood production released in 1934. Shot entirely in China, reportedly, it has an official status of co-production in China (that is: a movie co-produced by a mainland Chinese company and a non-mainland Chinese company). The Chinese cast includes Anthony Wong, Xia Yu, Feng Shuo and Lü Yan. Warner Independent Pictures is planning to make it available in North America by October/November this year.

Production stills: A B

THRU THE MOEBIUS STRIP International Trailer (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

(GDC Entertainment Limited)

Click her for the Chinese version of the international trailer.

Opening This Week: June 2 - 9 (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Ang Lee Is Still Casting for LUST, CAUTION (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

(AFP)

Who will play Wang Jiazhi, the female lead character, in Ang Lee's upcoming Lust, Caution, has become one of the most speculated subject of the Chinese language press. Among so many names being mentioned in the news, Zhang Ziyi and Barbie Hsu are the most popular. Reportedly, Ang Lee's brother Lee Gang said the ideal candidate should be between 19 and 23, should be between 164 and 168 cm, should have a great figure, should be very intelligent and should look elegant. Barbie Hsu (Hsu Hsi-Yuan), more commonly known as The Big S, is a popular singer and TV hostess. Her acting credit is limited to several TV soap series and two horror flicks. Other runners-up and rumored runners-up include Zhou Xun, Shu Qi, Jimmy Liao and Zhang Jingchu.  Ang Lee, just auditioned dozens of young women in Taiwan, will travel to the mainland China to meet more candidates in Beijing and Shanghai. Shooting is scheduled to begin this September in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

More about Lust, Caution

TV Special: A Coup in THE CURSE OF GOLDEN FLOWER (Sina.com)

(Getty Image)

Another short TV report by China's CCTV is posted at Sina.com. It shows the shooting of a coup lead by the second oldest prince, played by singer Jay Chou. A remote-controlled "flying camera" leased from the States was used for several aerial shots.

Click here for the clip.

TV Specials: A Glance of Tan Dun's Music in THE BANQUET (Sina.com)

Steven Spielberg Interested in Journey to the West (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Zhang Ziyi on a News Trail (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey May Join Wong Kar-Wai's MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Latest on CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER: The Set of Imperial Post (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

THE BANQUET TV Special (Sina.com)

Opening This Week: May 27 - June 2 (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)